Then It Hits Me

Chapter 12: Love Is A Closed Door

"Wonderful to have you back dear!" Mrs. Moselli kisses both of my cheeks with her bright red lips.

"Glad to be back," I smile politely and slip on one of my dancing shoes. Five out of six of my teammates come and hug me. I bet you can guess who didn't.

Ella.

She's standing in a corner stretching with a a little smile on her face. It confuses me, but I brush it off.

Mrs. Moselli tells everyone to get back to work and throws an arm around my shoulders, beginning to talk in a sympathetic tone, "So in the past weeks, we've all obviously missed our lead dancer so much, but I was also very worried if you would have enough time to practice your solo part. That's when your friend Ella hopped in and offered to take your spot because she has been practicing your solo for a few weeks now and is pretty good. I said yes, knowing that this little thing wouldn't bother you. Am I correct?"

A little thing? What the hell? That was MY solo the first one that I've ever gotten!

That's why Ella was smirking. The old Caitlin would've shrugged it off because Ella told her to but the new Caitlin isn't so easy going.

"What? No!" I can feel tears stinging my eyes.

Mrs. Moselli hugs me closer, "There is no turning back now. When Ella requested to do the solo and she proved that she was just as good as you in the practice department, I immediately filled out the form and gave it to the judges stating that Ella will be our new soloist and the rules are that we can't switch unless she gets ill or injured, like you did."

There are three people I feel like kicking right now, maybe four.

I'd like to kick myself for being so oblivious of what Ella was doing. I'd like yo kick Mrs. Moselli for giving my solo away to my current enemy. I'd like to kick Miller and his football for making me deal with this in the first place. The person I want to kick most of all is Ella, for being the bastard she is.

Instead of throwing a fit, I walk away, probably being very impolite, as mom would scold me for.

The smile Ella gives me is nothing compared to the feeling that is slowly eating up my guts. To think that while I was playing with Miller's lips, Ella was basically plotting my death. She knows how much this solo means to me because a few weeks ago I rambled on and on about it.

"I tried to convince Mrs. Moselli to let you keep the solo, but Ella was just so convincing, I couldn't," Olivia tells me grimly.

Olivia is in her sophomore year of high school and can do some pretty rockin' back flips. We call her 'The Wave' because when she's doing flips, her blue hair moves like a wave would. She's usually the girl I talk to other than Ella.

"Oh no worries," I try to give a little smile that turns into a grimace, "Ella always gets what she wants."

Olivia looks at me like she's trying to figure something out, "Not always. At least not always anymore. I hear that her hot jock boyfriend decided to ditch her for another girl and can't do anything to stop him."

I can feel my face beginning to flush. How did the news even spread to people who don't even go to our school? At first, Ella seemed mildly okay with me 'dating' Miller, but the longer this drags out the more I can see Ella clenching her fists whenever we walk by and sighing angrily whenever we share a kiss near her, which is most of the time.

Ever since the little fight Miller and I had that night after the barbecue, I can feel myself take an extra step away from Miller at all times. I know that the whole reason of this plan is to show Ella that she cannot control whatever situation she wants to control, but the guy is a teenage boy and we all know that teenage boys can't control themselves. I just don't want to be that girl who ends up actually liking the guy, but then finds out that all he ever wanted was sex.